RevDem Podcast · Review of Democracy

How’s the Rule of Law in Poland? – In Conversation with Jakub Jaraczewski

·55 min·3 clips

Jaraczewski says the public-media liquidation was “a brutal legal move” but acceptable in context.

The episode opens on Poland's tense rule-of-law landscape after the June 1, 2025 presidential election. Jakub Jaraczewski explains why Karol Nawrocki's surprise victory, backed by Law and Justice, was widely read as a rebuke to the governing coalition's slow pace on rule-of-law reforms. It then turns to the July 24 reshuffle. Donald Tusk's decision to replace Adam Bodnar with Waldemar Zurek is framed as a response to that criticism, but also as proof that the legal conflict is still unresolved. Bodnar's record matters here. The conversation treats him as a respected figure in Polish and European legal circles, and as one of the faces of the struggle for the rule of law during the Law and Justice years. The episode also notes that when the current ruling coalition won the parliamentary elections exactly two years and one day earlier, many hoped Bodnar would be able to undo the damage to the legal system and restore trust in institutions. Zurek's background matters too. As a former judge and spokesperson for the National Council of the Judiciary, and someone who publicly criticized Law and Justice, he signals continuity with the legal resistance as well as a new ministerial role. From there, the episode gets more technical. Jaraczewski argues for an independent commission that would review appointments and promotions of so-called neo-judges, separating the small number shaped by political influence from those who should simply remain in office. He rejects blanket invalidation. In his view, automatic removal would be both impractical and unfair, since many of the judges under review would also have been selected under a properly composed judiciary council. The comparison to Poland's 1989 and 1990 review of former communist-era secret-police officers gives the proposal historical precedent. He says the number of judges involved is large, but still manageable. The conversation also touches the Supreme Court. Jaraczewski likes some parts of the current bill, especially the idea of removing the new judges from that court, but he stays wary of solutions that treat every contested appointment as equally flawed. A recurring concern is how to draw the line between accountability and stability without hardening the political spectrum even further. The discussion keeps returning to legitimacy. Courts need to be seen as lawful, but they also need to keep functioning while repairs are made. That tension gives the episode its weight. The legal questions are never separated from the political ones. Instead, the episode shows how public trust, party strategy, and institutional design all depend on one another. It is careful about tradeoffs rather than eager for a dramatic answer. That restraint makes the argument more credible. The pace is measured, and Jaraczewski is given room to build the case step by step. For listeners willing to stay with a dense institutional conversation, the episode offers a clear account of why the Polish judiciary remains contested and why a durable fix will probably require a selective, not sweeping, approach. The episode ends on cautious optimism, with the sense that restoring trust will take time and that the issue will return as Poland moves toward the 2027 parliamentary elections.

As heard by us

A clear look at how Poland might repair its courts without breaking them again.

Poland's rule-of-law fight is treated here as institutional repair, not a simple swap in political power. Jakub Jaraczewski follows Karol Nawrocki's surprise election, the backlash to the pace of Donald Tusk's reforms, and the July reshuffle that moved Adam Bodnar out and…

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Why you'd press play

You want a clear map of Poland's rule-of-law reset and the vetting debate around neo-judges.

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